Small Blessings
by triplechocolatte
Summary: When Francis' wife dies, she leaves him and their child to fend for themselves. In steps Antonio, who provides the two with a place to live, a school for Matthieu to go to, and possibly more.
1. Chapter 1

Matthieu looked up at his Father, Francis with his violet eyes.

"Papa? Where are we going?" His voice came out a barely a whisper.

"We are going to be staying with Antonio, mon cher," Francis' blue eyes were obscured by his blonde hair as he drove.

"Where is mama?" Matthieu asked in his quiet voice.

"She's. . . gone Matthieu, that's why we are going to live with Antonio," His wife had died a few days before, and with Francis' small income, they wouldn't have been able to keep the house that they had been staying in. Instead of foreclosing on the house, Francis had been able to sell it. For the past few days, the two of them had been living in one of Francis' old colleagues' house, but he and Francis argued a lot, so Francis had called up one of his high school friends that he stayed in touch with and had managed to have been lucky enough that he had a large house and was willing to let them stay there.

"Antonio's nice I guess," Matthieu mumbled, snuggling into the plush polar bear that Francis' wife, Jeanne, had gotten him. Even at 14, he still carried around his stuffed animal, and he hadn't been without it in the past few days.

"Oui, he is," Francis could not agree more with his child

Francis pulled the small, beat up car into the driveway of a relativelyt large home, "We're here Matthieu."

"Wow," Matthieu stared at the large home in awe, his eyes lighting up.

"It is impressive, non? But Antonio must be waiting for us, let's go ring the doorbell, mon petit," He ushered the thin boy up to the door of the home, which was surprisingly painted red.

"Mi amigo! It's been so long!" Antonio greeted Francis with a hug before either of them had a chance to even touch the doorbell.

"Hello Antonio," Francis greeted, hugging him back softly.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Antonio's eyes softened, before catching sight of Matthieu who was hiding behind Francis. "And this must be Matthieu. Hello."

Matthieu stared at the man who said his name with an odd accent, this must be Antonio.

"H-hello," Matthieu mumbled before hiding his face in his polar bear.

Matthieu heard Antonio and Francis chuckle a bit.

"He's so cute," Antonio smiled softly at the boy, before pulling him into a small hug.

Matthieu immediately stiffened. Antonio was the first person other than his parents to have hugged him. But it felt. . . nice. Even though Antonio wasn't his mother, he still felt warm and inviting, though this was the first time Matthieu and Antonio had met.

Once Antonio felt Matthieu relax into his arms, he smiled up at Francis, "Come on in, I can show you where you'll be sleeping."


	2. Chapter 2

Antonio held the boy's hand as he walked though the halls of his house. He was a very successful farmer. Matthew had never seen such a wonderful house before. There were endless hallways and bedrooms. The house seemed daunting to his small frame.

Antonio glanced at Matthew and then at Francis. The similarities were definitely there. The only nuances were that Matthew's hair had an odd curl, and that his eyes were more purple than blue like his fathers'. He was almost a beautiful as his father, with his feminine figure that made him look ten instead of fourteen. Antonio couldn't deny that Francis was beautiful, he had indulged himself in a few fantasies, although his friend was married. Before Francis had gotten married, he used to sleep around, he had to admit. Antonio had resigned himself to a foul mouthed Italian to sedate his pain. The Italian had eventually gotten together with another friend of Antonio and Francis', a loud Prussian named Gilbert. Antonio was close to forgetting about Francis, when he heard about Jeanne.

It made him feel terrible, but he was glad that Francis was back in his life.

"Your rooms are right down here," Antonio lead the two down another hallway that was near where his own room was.

"Thank you Antonio," There was that charming smile Francis always gave the ladies back when they were in high school. This time there was a tired undertone to it, like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Papa, may I sleep with you tonight?" Matthew shyly looked up at his father, yawning. Matthew was so adorable, Antonio wasn't sure he had seen a cuter kid in his life.

"Of course, mon cher. Thank you for everything Antonio," Francis ushered the tired boy into the room.

"Good night Francis, Matthew."

"Good night Antonio."

"Good night Uncle Antonio."

Antonio walked back to his room, it was good to see Francis again after all this time. Maybe he could suppress the feelings from high school from coming back. He reached his room and felt the familiar flutter in his heart. He quickly opened the door, rushed inside, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Or maybe not.

A/N: Tell me what you think. I currently have no idea what I'm doing with this story. I'll see you all again next update!


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